


Felicity Versus Flash

by smoakmonster



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Arrow AU, Arrow AU: Chuck, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Humor, flarrow, olicity - Freeform, olicity au, spy AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-04-12
Updated: 2015-04-12
Packaged: 2018-03-22 14:00:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,030
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3731485
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/smoakmonster/pseuds/smoakmonster
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Yesterday, Felicity Smoak was working at Tech Village, making $11 an hour fixing computers. Today, she has one in her head. On her birthday, Felicity receives an email filled with government secrets from ex-boyfriend—and apparently rogue spy?—Cooper Sheldon. The information her brain “downloads” puts her and anyone she knows in danger. Thus, the NSA and CIA send their top agents to protect Felicity and help her harness The Intersect. The NSA sends John Diggle, ex-military special forces, and the CIA sends Oliver Queen, a man too attractive for his own good and harboring more secrets than anyone Felicity’s ever met. Despite going completely against CIA protocol, Felicity can’t help the growing feelings she has for Agent Queen, who says she must learn to control her emotions to be an effective spy. Except what the CIA calls a liability, Felicity considers her best asset: her heart.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Felicity Versus Flash

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm very excited to finally begin this new series! If you’re familiar with the TV show Chuck, you’ll realize I’m doing things backwards, starting with part of the finale scene, which acts as a prologue. WARNING: ANGST in this chapter.

_**Prologue** _

__

She finds him on the beach. Their beach.

Like wind chimes, her heart flutters the instant she perceives his silhouette in the sunset. She feels her pulse thumping wildly behind her ears. Of all the places in the world he could have chosen to sit down, he picked _this_ one.

She licks her lips in uncertainty, the juxtaposition of conflicting emotions keeping her grounded, wanting to see him but not to scare him, wanting to love him but maybe not enough to lose him. It’s like he’s the deer and she’s the hunter; how convoluted is _that?_ She’s never felt so unsure, so torn, especially about him.

She should do what he would’ve done, were the situation reversed. She could do the noble thing and walk away. She could try to let him go, let him live a life completely free of any self-inflicted obligations towards her. She could pretend to forget him, too.

Except he’s _here_. He’s in this sacred spot of his own will. Surely that means, even on a subconscious level, he still _wants_ this, a life with her and everything. It’s a false hope, and she knows it. Still, it’s been weeks since she even had a taste of hope at all. She has to try. This is what she signed up for. For better or for worse, even if he doesn’t remember.

Besides, they have faced worse trials together and come out the stronger for it, haven't they? Life and death situations every day. Bullets and car crashes. Biochemical weapons. Weeks in Russia undercover. She can’t lose him again, not like this. She can’t let him just collapse back into abysmal thoughts he’s been treading to keep from drowning in for years now. He’s come so far. One memory wipe can’t erase all that. She won’t allow it. Since he can’t remember, she will just have to make the effort and reach out to the emotionally detached man he was five years ago.

Even with the knot tightening in her chest, Felicity leans to the right to slip off her left shoe, and then twists, shifting her weight to slip off the other. She huffs out a deep, uneasy breath, trying to expel the last little pieces of doubt.

It’s now or never.

As she trudges across the endless, warm stretch, Felicity nervously rubs her thumb against her wedding ring. (An act she’s borrowed from him.) The wind whips around her sundress, causing the fabric to cling to her body, slowing her efforts. If he hears her coming, he doesn’t make a move to show it. He does nothing to acknowledge her presence, like he’s in a wave-induced trace.

When she finally reaches his side and plops down beside him, smoothing out her sundress, he doesn’t look at her. Instead, he watches the ocean with severity, unblinking, unyielding in his solitude. It’s always amazed Felicity how Oliver can just shut the world out, like he’s the only person on the entire planet, trapped on an island of his own making. She swallows past the lump in her throat, telling herself this is like every other time he’s pensive—and not because he’s lost all his memories of her.

She presses her lips tightly together, not wanting to be the one to break the complacent silence, not wanting him to feel forced to talk to her. And Felicity likes just _being_ with him. She could sit with him like this forever, if it meant he’d never leave.

She spends what must be several minutes squishing her feet into the sand, burying toes under exfoliating grains. The simple, mindless act soothes her nerves as she waits.

Finally, in his acutely grave voice, he almost whispers, “This place...it’s important, isn’t it?”

At first, she’s too shocked to answer properly. It takes her heart far too long to decelerate back into a normal rhythm. After a brief lull, it's clear he's not going to interrupt or repeat anything. “Yes,” Felicity answers simply. “This is actually where you promised me that everything was going to be okay. That you would protect me. That I could trust you.”

Whether it’s the words themselves or the way she emphasizes _trust_ that makes him turn to look at her, she does not know. And she honestly does not care. All she can focus on is the confused wonder brewing behind those vacant blue orbs, mesmerizing in their draw. His eyes, still so lacking in the love she’s so used to seeing reflected back at her, have an unsettling, jarring effect on her heart.

Somehow, she finds her courage to continue. He’s always been so strong for her. Now it’s her turn to be strong for him. She swallows deeply, blinking back tears threatening to spill over her eyes and crumble her will altogether. She’s terrified he’s going to leave and never come back. But she’s also terrified that if he detects her incessant worry for him, he’ll leave and never come back.

“And I’m making you that same promise now. It’s your life. It’s your choice,” she declares. “But you can _trust me_ , Oliver.” Her voice breaks, and he at least has the decency to not react differently towards her because of it. Oliver’s always been good that way, treating her like she’s so much tougher than she really feels.

Felicity catches the conflict in his gaze, but more than that she recognizes the change, so brief she almost misses it, would have missed it, if she didn’t know him so well. There’s a little flicker of hope, like rays of sunshine piercing through a storm cloud. She doubts he’s even aware of what his mind is doing, because a second later, he blinks, and the CIA mask of stone is secured back in place.

He’s impassive once more, raising a sturdy eyebrow. “I may not remember you, Felicity, but I know enough to know your life would be easier without someone like me in it.”

She huffs once without humor. “You know, you’ve said that to me before.”

“Well then, maybe you should have listened. You deserve better,” he insists, resigned and deflated.

“What I _deserve_ is someone who isn’t afraid to be happy,” she counters.

He shoots her a firm look, locking his jaw. “I’m a killer. Happiness isn’t really in the cards for me.”

Felicity tips her head impatiently, and a fire erupts in her gut. She’s not giving up so easily. “I don’t accept that attitude, Oliver Queen. And you shouldn’t either. If you want to travel the world to rediscover yourself, that’s fine. If you need time, I’ll wait. But if you think I’m just going to sit here while you fall back into your ways of self-deprecation, you are _wrong_.”

She seems to have stunned him into silence, so she licks her lips and keeps going, now that she has his undivided attention. Gently, she says, “Oliver, if I had just accepted things growing up, I would have become a cocktail waitress in Vegas like my mother. And I _never_ would have gone to college, and I _never_ would’ve gotten kicked out of school, only to end up working at a Tech Village store. And then I certainly never would have believed some crazy CIA agent when he told me that I could be more than just an IT girl.”

His lips quirk up. “Crazy agent, huh?”

She sighs, slightly frustrated from his obvious spy deflection move, but also slightly relieved that she still has the ability to make him smile—or even half-smile. She’ll take what she can get.

He’s silent for a while again, placing his forearms on his knees, his hands clasped together so tightly she can see white emerging on his knuckles. His eyebrows pull together tightly as he says, “I know what I am.”

This stubborn man, who does not know her, is still trying to protect her from himself. Oliver Queen has always been astute in every area except for self-perception. But she knows him, too; she sees him as he really is, as more than he is, as the man his mind currently cannot even conceive. “Yeah, you’re the guy I married,” she says.

He shakes his head. “This life that I’ve chosen...it’s only supposed to end one way.”

She squints at him, pouting her lips. “Well, no offense Oliver, but you and I have never exactly been rule-followers.”

Felicity means it to be a joke, but this time when he stares at her, she feels like she’s been kicked in the stomach. All the air leaves her body in a rush. For a moment, all she sees is the questioning torment he’s been trying to block from her. _This_ at last is the man she loves, tortured and unguarded. It takes every precious cell of willpower not to instantly reach up and stroke his stubble or kiss his cheek.

She’s almost talked herself into the act when his eyes suddenly lock in horror, like he’s catching himself in the act of revealing too much. There’s a brief moment of sheer terror, while his eyes fiercely roam over her entire face. Felicity frowns, staring back in calm yet equally ceaseless inquiry. If he's looking for judgment, he doesn't find it in her. They've already been down this road before. And it led them here.

Eventually, he relaxes his shoulders and raises an eyebrow with quiet curiosity. “Felicity,” he breathes, his entire demeanor softening. Meanwhile, her mind soars at the way he utters her name.  

“Hmm?” She rubs her lips together, forcing herself to look up into those pleading blue eyes waiting for her, instead of staring at his lips, which suddenly seem just inches from hers. He watches her with a desperation as vicious as the roaring waves she’s hearing. Oliver Queen has always been like the beach, like the vibrantly wild sea waves, his love beating against her soul relentlessly; but he’s also like the sun, blinding her with an intensity that’s made her come alive.

The man beside her hesitates, sighing deeply and averting his eyes. The pause lengthens, and for a moment she wonders if he’s ever going to finish his thought. Finally, he speaks, his temperament and infection as eerily alike the way he once murmured a similar question, the one that preceded a diamond being placed on her left hand. “Will you tell me our story?”

She can feel the pained smile breaking out across her face, but seeing his eyes spark with uncharted vibrancy gives her hope. “Really? Are you sure?” she asks, her heart racing with the secret hope that he doesn’t say no.

“Right now, I’m only sure of one thing. I want to know.”

She gulps, not believing her own ears. “What do you want to know?”

Immediately he answers, “Everything.”

While her heart bangs against the inside of her rib cage, she just nods and without permission scoots herself closer. Oliver tilts his head as he studies her with a quiet ardency, exactly the way he used to look at her in the early days.

Closing her eyes, Felicity briefly gathers her thoughts. Should she start at the beginning? What should she tell him? What _shouldn’t_ she tell him?

Or maybe that’s the wrong question to be asking.

The real question is...can she love him enough all over again? Can fight for him like he fought for her five years ago, on the worst-best day of her life? Can she prove to the best friend who no longer exists how much _he’s_ changed her, too?

Suddenly, Felicity realizes whether he stays or goes doesn’t matter. Whether he remembers her love for him by the end of this long story doesn’t matter. He deserves the truth. He deserves to be happy, whatever happiness looks like for him now. So with an untapped bravery, Felicity straightens her back and gives her husband one last gift: she tells him everything. But even as she recounts the tales of how one nerd herder and one super spy saved the world together, what Felicity’s really telling is the story of how two very different people found a home in each other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!
> 
> There will be fluff in the next chapter, I promise. Chapter 2 will basically come straight from the pilot episode of Chuck. Things will move fairly chronologically from that point on. I will be adding much more characters from Arrow and Flash, as well. Hope you enjoy! I can't wait to continue this AU!


End file.
